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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 THE JACKSON HERALD PAGE 5A Special recognition Pat Bell, 4-H honored for Hurricane Shoals efforts Pat Bell and the Jack- son County 4-H were recently recognized for their efforts to clean-up Hurricane Shoals Park in the 1970s. Bell was honored in a surprise event at Art in the Park on Sunday, Sept. 19. Bell is shown (left) with Jack- son County Extension agent Greg Pittman. State Rep. Tommy Benton read a resolution honoring Pat Bell and the Jack- son County 4-H program for spearheading the cleanup of Hurricane Shoals Park in the 1970s. Pictured are (L-R): Rep. Benton, Bell and Jackson County Extension agent Greg Pittman. A crowd of community members and Jackson County 4-H alumni attended the special event. Hoschton Hoschton police station could be ready ‘within next few months’ Hoschton leaders have selected a location to house the city’s new police department. The Hoschton City Council agreed to make a $650,000 purchase for property located at 4162 Hwy. 53 in downtown Hoschton. The lot is 0.4 acres (according to Jack- son County geographical information systems) and includes a 3.200 square- foot building. The council met in a nine-minute closed ses sion during a Friday. Sept. 3. called meeting to dis cuss real estate acquisition and voted unanimously to purchase the land upon re turning to open session. As part of the closing process, the council has authorized mayor pro-tem Adam Ledbetter to sign all closing papers for the sale. Impact fees will be used toward the purchase of the property and cover just over half of the sale amount, according to may or Shannon Sell. With this latest move, the city continues to build its new police department after having been without one since 2010. Hoschton installed a new police chief. Brad Hill, in Au gust and approved the pur chase of a police vehicle. The city will begin slowly phasing in officers in Jan uary. The property purchase will now allow for a po lice facility that could also serve a dual purpose. “We’ll most likely put the municipal court in that building, too.” Sell said. While Sell said there are “a lot of pieces to the puz zle.” the city hopes to have the facility ready “within the next few months.” The mayor noted that a florist and antique shop current ly occupy the building and said those those tenants must be allowed adequate time to move out. Sell said the building will require basic remod eling, but also said it’s too early to offer any details of a potential floor plan for the facility or an esti mated cost for that proj ect. Braselton Medieval fair featuring the Battle of Hastings coming to Braselton By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews. com A major battle from the 11th century will come to life again in Braselton. The town’s civic cen ter director Sloane Meyer announced at Thursday’s (Sept. 9) downtown devel opment authority (DDA) meeting that Braselton host a Oct. 9-10 a “mini medie val fair” on the town green. Professional historical re-enactors from “History Now” will coordinate the event and feature a pre sentation on the Battle of Hastings from 1066, which saw Norman-French forces defeat the English to begin the Norman conquest of England. “It will be part festival, bring-the-community-in for exciting things, part educational,” said Mey er, who said the presenta tion fits all Georgia stan dards for social studies and English. The event, which will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. will include food trucks and local vendors who sell costumes, jewelry or cooking utensils related to that time period. In other business dis cussed. the DDA: •heard from Braselton Downtown director Amy Pinnell, who recently spoke with the coordinator for the town’s art project. The public can participate in an online art survey at www. BraseltonPublicArt.com to offer input on development of the project. •heard that the town still seeks volunteers for its Sept. 25 Pooches in the Park event and sponsors for its Oct. 16 Zombie Run. The town hopes to draw around 150 runners for the Zombie Run. The 5K race serves as a Peachtree Road Race qualifier. Hoschton Submitted photo HOSCHTON PROJECT CELEBRATED Hoschton City Coun cil members and em ployees are pictured Wednesday (Aug. 25) at a gathering to celebrate the new clarifier project for the city’s waste wa ter treatment plant. Headline roundup JM Family Enterprises among ‘Best Workplaces’ Great Place to Work and Fortune magazine have named JM Family Enterprises as one of the 2021 Best Workplaces in Manufacturing & Production. This is the company’s sixth time being named to this prestigious list, this year coming in at No. 2. In 2020, JM Family completed a $100 million brand-new facility for its Toyota Vehicle Processing Center (VPC) in Commerce. The 350,000 square- foot complex encompasses 90 acres of the compa ny’s 300-acre site, where it employs more than 200 associates, many of whom were heavily involved in the design process. This new operating location was built on the feed back of the associates who work there, implement ing new business processes to improve efficiency. In addition, the company added specific amenities to improve work life, including a Health and Wellness Center with a physician, a nurse practitioner and a registered nurse on staff, an expanded dining facili ty with ample outdoor seating, a fitness center and a community meeting area. Other amenities include a community garden where associates can grow their own herbs, produce and flowers, an onsite % mile outdoor fitness trail and an approximately one-acre fishing pond. Facilities upgrades were also complet ed at the company’s two additional VPCs in Jackson ville, Florida. Waste Pro acquires commercial route in Commerce Waste Pro has acquired a commercial route from Metro Site, Inc. in Commerce. Waste Pro is servicing 194 new customers as part of the arrangement. • •• Piedmont joins Anthem’s Medicare Advantage network Piedmont and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield announced recently that the health system has joined Anthem’s Medicare Advantage network, which will help bring lower out-of-pocket costs for Anthem’s Medicare Advantage members. This agreement went into effect September 15. This agreement enables Anthem’s Medicare Ad vantage members in-network access to care from Piedmont’s hospitals, urgent care centers, QuickCare locations, and physician practices in Georgia. It also expands on the existing relationship between the two organizations in which members of Anthem’s com mercial health plans have access to in-network care at Piedmont. Individuals with questions can contact Anthem’s Member Services by using the toll-free number on the back of their identification card. For more infor mation about the services offered at Piedmont, visit www.piedmont.org. Georgia unemployment falls, but so does workforce Georgia’s unemployment rate and the number of unemployed have both fallen to pre-pandemic levels. But the state’s labor force is also below what it was when COVID-19 struck Georgia in March of last year and shows no signs of bouncing back. The unemployment rate declined two-tenths of a percentage point last month to 3.5%, lower than the 3.6% jobless rate posted in March 2020, the Georgia Department of Labor reported Thursday. The number of unemployed dropped to about 182,000, also below the pre-pandemic level of 187,000. While those numbers represent good news for the state’s economy, the labor force also remained 31,000 below the number of Georgians in the workforce in March of last year. Job losses in the accommodation and food services and retail trade sectors negated what otherwise would have been a job gain of more than 4,000 in August. “Job growth will become stagnant if we don’t fill the hundreds of thousands of jobs that we currently have open right now,” Georgia Commissioner of La bor Mark Butler said Thursday. “We are not seeing the number of Georgians rejoin the labor force at the same pace as we are seeing employers post jobs.” A survey conducted by the labor department found that 69% of Georgia employers have been increasing pay scales to try to fill vacant jobs. About 46% re port they have become more flexible with education and experience requirements of jobseekers, and more than a third say they have enhanced benefits. Jobseekers responding to the survey said they were discouraged from applying due to a lack of qualifica tions, fear of COVID exposure and a desire for higher salaries and benefits. “Based on what we are seeing, it may take months, if not years, for the job market to return to some type of normalcy,” Butler said. First-time unemployment claims were down 19% last month from July and declined 81% compared to August of last year. The number of employed Georgians rose by 15,686 last month to nearly 5 million. The sectors with the most over-the-month job gains included administrative and support services, which posted a gain of 3,500 jobs; professional, scientific, and technical services, which gained 2,500 jobs; and non-durable goods manufacturing, which saw an in crease of 1,000. There are more 200,000 jobs posted on Employ GA. In many cases, employers are willing to train quality candidates and assist with obtaining addition al credentials.